Getting Our Act Together

[HKHaugan]

Word 6
In vs.3 John expands on vs.1-2.
By establishing Jesus as the Word John delivered a sword thrust into the mindset of his age. Existence was no longer an imperfect copy of a perfect idea from some kind of perfect intellectual atmosphere or the result of some kind of impersonal force or mysterious mind at work. It was Creation created by a creative person, an identifiable person, a spiritual person, a person who preexisted time. God was now more than a vague concept somewhere out there. Jesus was the reality that ‘Word’ was all about. He was with God in the beginning (vs.2) and “Through Him all things came into being...(vs.3)” That meant space, matter and time, everything, all things visible and invisible.

In naming Jesus the Word, John sliced through the vague speculation of Greek philosophers whose ideas about origins were never more than random conclusions based on intuition. Philosophers assumed intuition and intellect were the only means to understanding. Philosophers were like intellectual detectives on the track of something within their grasp but every time they would come to a conclusion it fell short of the goal. They were reaching, reaching, reaching for something that was always beyond their grasp. They had the clues in what could be seen, they had parts of the truth in their conclusions but it would take something more for them to get it right, to really put the pieces together. What John did was to tell them all that no matter how hard they tried, intuition and intellect would never cut it. They would never intuit the origin of all existence. As said, it would take something more and that more would swipe away their self-assumed importance, their pride as intellectuals. That more was revelation and the faith it would take to accept it.

When John said Jesus was the Word he was making a new declaration. The revelation given him was that the Word could be personally experienced through faith. This was the startling part of the revelation. God was being personal, desiring and offering a new and unique experience, a direct personal relationship with Him for each person for all time. It would go way beyond membership in a class, superior intellect and status, correct bloodline, nationality, ethnic background and culture. This is where they were, where they were trapped, where they were lost in pursuit of an empty lifeless goal. God was offering eternal life, a never ending relationship through His Son Jesus who was and is the Word.

God wanted everyone to not only realize who He was and had always been but that He was the same from all eternity and would be the same forever. This is why He sent His Son to be seen as the Word. That was as close as anyone could come to understanding just who He was and His Son was. All the speculation comes to an end. That’s why John declares what had been revealed to Him, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (vs.14).”

But first we need to ask why was and is mankind so limited? Well, the very fact that we have to search, to ask, to inquire, to speculate should tell us something. There is a block in us before we start. It’s a spiritual block. It’s called sin. It blocks faith. It blocks wisdom. It blocks understanding. It blocks relationships. It keeps us from knowing the truth in our minds, the lonely condition of the heart and the spiritual hunger within. As long as we stay within attempting to intuit, believing we can make sense out of life by ourselves, that’s as far as we’ll ever get. There’s always that nagging blank. We may have more self-understanding but where does that take us and where do we end up? The answers will never come from within. They have to be given from outside the self and received personally by faith.

First, we have to accept our limitations. We need revelation, intentional revelation, intentional revelation from a person outside of us who not only knows the problem but has the solution and desires to share it with us. He has shown that the problem is spiritual and the solution is spiritual. He was and is the revealer and the revelation all wrapped in one. By His sacrifice and death on the Cross He showed that sin is the spiritual block. In His Resurrection He showed He is the only One who can remove the block through love and forgiveness.

Let me give an example. When I was playing basketball I could spot when and where a ball had to be passed. I knew it in my mind and I wanted to do it in my heart but my body simply was not athletically equipped to carry out what was in my mind. I had to admit that as much as I liked to play and could actually coach the game I was limited athletically. I knew early on that I would always be limited athletically in many sports. My pride took a bit of a blow but the admission was a real growth spurt for me. However, I found the training regimen stuck with me and I started jogging as a means of staying in shape. I have been blessed with relatively good health and been more productive as a result. But sin is always there keeping us from facing the limitations of pride, aloneness and fear. It’s when I accept my spiritual and intellectual limitations and tell the Lord I am sorry, that’s when I grow as a person. Through faith in Him I grow intellectually and spiritually because real knowledge comes through faith. What I am saying is that until we deal with the fact of sin being the block in us we’ll never get where we need to be. Jesus solved the sin issue on the Cross by bearing sin in our place.

Second, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ does not leave us the option of relegating it to a religious philosophy. It happened. Sin is real. Sin blunts life. Sin ends in death. Sin and death went to the Cross in Jesus. He defeated their power by His Resurrection. That fact caused a wedge in history that won’t go away. Jesus is the sum of all thought about God and man. He is alive and that belief has to be dealt with if we say we are people of integrity. God is and has a purpose. He wants us to believe in Him, to trust Him and have faith in Him through His risen Son. Our spiritual nature won’t rest until it finds its true home in Him and I don’t believe He will let us rest until we find Him. He loves us that much. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Mt.7:7-12).”

Third, it would take trusting Jesus in an ongoing relationship. This is what revelation is all about. He reveals Himself personally through faith in Him. It isn’t just accepting the idea of the revelation of Jesus being the Word. It’s accepting His reality. It is a living continuing revelation every moment of our lives as we grow in that relationship with Him. He is constantly revealing something new about Himself every day in every next moment. This is why John concludes vs.14, “We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”